Advertising: Harder than they Initially Thought
by Glass O'Lemonade
Summary: Natsu & Happy are fishing, Wendy & Carla are off with Team Shadow Gear, & Erza went to visit Heart Kreuz. That leaves one Ice Mage & one Celestial Mage at Fairy Tail. With Lucy's rent deadline coming up, all she can do is join one Gray Fullbuster on a request. This should be interesting. Takes place after the Edolas arc and before the S-Class Trials. Rated T for Future Chapters.
1. Gray's Request

**AN. **A while ago I searched for friendship fics with Gray and Lucy, but they all appeared to be romances as well. Thus, I decided to write one myself. Hopefully this may inspire some other, better, writers to also dwell into this aspect of _Fairy Tail_. I'm not too entirely sure where this story will ultimately go, but it will most likely be short. Hope you like this chapter enough to stick around. -Lem  
**Disclaimer.** I own no rights to _Fairy Tail_, Gray Fullbuster, or Lucy Heartfilia.

* * *

The train ride was silent. Gray Fullbuster sat across from Lucy Heartfilia and Plue. The celestial mage had called out her dog spirit to keep her company as Natsu, Happy, Erza, Wendy, and Carla were absent and her other companion was presently asleep.

The two wizards were on their way to fulfill a request. It was originally Gray's request to complete, but Mira had suggested he take Lucy with him. Erza had left the guild the day before to visit Heart Kreuz. Wendy and Carla were out on a request with Levy's team. Natsu and Happy were off on an all day fishing trip, they told Lucy the weather was perfect for it. Her response was to moan about getting evicted if she didn't get to work soon.

Lucy smiled. _Mira was probably tired of listening to me whine about my rent_ _money_. _That's why she told Gray to bring me along._

After thirty more minutes the train stopped at their destination. With a soft shake, Lucy woke Gray, and they, including Plue, exited the train.

"Plue you may return now. Thanks for sitting with me!" The blond waved as her spirit vanished, returning to the celestial world.

"Is that the only thing that spirit is good for?" questioned Gray as he stretched his arms out.

"What kind of comment is that? Plue is very useful!" Lucy replied incensed. Unfortunately, not one example sprang to her mind.

"Whoa, relax. Save that for the mission."

As Gray started walking off, Lucy shouted, "Your clothes!"

* * *

The two Fairy Tail mages walked for close to an hour until they finally reached a three story house outside of town.

"This is the place?"

The ice wizard nodded.

"Now what do we do?"

"You didn't read the request?"

"Well, it was in your pocket, and this whole thing was a last minute decison on my part." There was a brief moment of silence and then she asked, "So, what are we supposed to do?"

"The client is the owner of this," he motioned towards the home, "bed and breakfast. He asked for a wizard to visit to bring in more people since business has been slow recently."

"Oh, so like the play we did in Omnibus Town!"

"Exactly."

The two didn't waste any more time discussing the situation and entered the hostel. They quickly introduced themselves to the owner. He informed the two that there was a room available for them on the top floor.

"I apologize for not offering you a second room, but I'm hoping that I'll receive more clients while you're here and so I need to leave those rooms available."

"We understand." responded Gray.

The three spoke for a few more minutes and then the two wizards made their way upstairs. They'd start advertising tomorrow.

* * *

Lucy didn't know what was worse. The fact that the room only had one bed or that she'd have to shower knowing Gray could hear her. She didn't even want to think about the toilet situation.

Gray leaned his suitcase up by the nearest wall and then began to crawl into bed.

"Wait, don't you think we need to-" Lucy started.

"This was my request. You decided to tag along. Thus, I get the bed." He then rolled over, no longer facing a very uncomfortable Lucy.

She finally dropped her luggage. She stepped into the bathroom. _A hot bath and face wash will make me feel better._

An hour later Lucy was once more greeted by the dilemma of where to sleep.

_Well, Gray's already out of it. I'm sure he'll understand if I sleep on the other side. The bed is large._

She made up her mind, slid under the covers on the opposite side, and shut her eyes.

_Night._


	2. The Following Morning

_Who's idea was it to go on this mission? Oh yeah, Mira's. _Lucy was going to have to speak with Fairy Tail's resident pin-up model about going on overnight missions with any of the guild's guys. _How could I forget already?! I slept right between him and Natsu on Galuna Island the first night!_

Gray glanced up from his breakfast. "Hey, Lucy, did you get any sleep last night? You look tired."

"I tried to sleep, but you snore just as bad as Natsu." she replied as her fork stabbed the innocent bacon lying on her plate.

The ice wizard narrowed his eyes. "How would you know Natsu snores?"

"Does Galuna Island ring any bells?"

"Yeah. Unpleasant ones."

_Oops. Probably shouldn't have brought it up, but what else was I supposed to say? Oh yeah, I know Natsu snores because he sneaks into my apartment and sleeps in my bed whenever he feels like it. Yeah, that response would have flown over well with Gray._

"Whoa, what did that bacon ever do to you?" Gray asked in slight alarm. Lucy glanced down at her plate. The bacon, once in strip form, was now all broken up into pieces due to Lucy's subconscious fork attacks.

"Oh, my bad."

The celestial wizard quickly began eating up her remaining breakfast as Gray excused himself to visit the men's room.

* * *

As the sun gazed down upon the land, Lucy and Gray made their way to town.

"So we're going into town to..."

"Get an idea of the layout. We should be able to find a good place to gather tourists somewhere in town. The bed and breakfast is too remote for us to advertise directly outside it."

"That makes sense."

"Also, it would be good to know who travels to this town in the first place. What sites does this place have to offer? It all goes back to gathering guests for the man's business."

Lucy was impressed by Gray's plan and thought process.

"What is that weird look for?"

"I'm just surprised by how thorough you are."

The ice wizard grinned. "Well, you're on a request with me, not Flame Brain."

As the two Fairy Tail mages continued making their way to town, someone in the shadows was observing their every move.

* * *

_Two hours. Then I'll meet back_ _up with_ _Gray in the center of town. _Lucy thought as she strolled through the town's shopping district._ Now, why did I volunteer to explore this side? I don't even have enough jewel to pay my rent!_

So far this job request wasn't turning out that great. First, she had to share a bed with the snoring stripper, and now she was forced to gaze upon things she can't even purchase.

* * *

"Did you notice any good tourist destinations?" Gray inquired as Lucy approached him.

She shook her head. "I also couldn't find any tourists. Everyone I came across seemed to be locals."

Gray's brows furrowed. "I didn't come across any tourists either."

"You'd think there'd be at least one visitor." Lucy thought aloud.

"Something isn't right here," Gray's hands clenched up into fists, "and I'm going to find out what it is."

The determination Gray had was contagious. Lucy nodded in support.

Gray stood from his spot on the bench. "Let's go get some answers."

* * *

**AN. **Thanks to my first two reviewers,** Kaoroku Hanami **and** PearlLover2019**! By the way,** PearlLover2019**, I went ahead and fixed that line in the first chapter. Thanks for pointing that out! Lastly here's an appreciative shout out to** PearlLover2019 **and** AnimeLuver778 **who added this to their alert list. I hope to see y'all again in the next chapter!  
**Disclaimer.** I own no rights to Fairy Tail.


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